PLANNING, DESIGN & ACCESS STATEMENT TO ACCOMPANY

A FULL APPLICATION FOR AN EXTENSION AND DETACHED GARAGE

AT

GREENACRES WATERFALL LANE, ST10 3HY

FOR

MR & MRS J HALL

Prepared by Michael Sutcliffe & Associates Chartered Town Planners INTRODUCTION

This statement accompanies the planning application for an extension to Greenacres, a bungalow, and the provision of a detached garage. It should be read in conjunction with the attached Protected Species form.

The content of the Design & Access element follows guidance in Circular 01/2006 Section 3 and the National Parks form DA1.

SITE DESCRIPTION

Greenacres is a modern detached bungalow dating from the mid 1970's. It forms one building with the current garage being attached. The bungalow lies to the rear of the site and is south facing.

The site slopes gently down to Waterfall Lane and the property is fronted by extensive lawns containing random specimen trees and shrubs.

Access is by a double width drive from Waterfall Lane with good visibility splays in both directions.

In its form and design Greenacres is typical of its time, having a modern, even suburban appearance unlike the traditional 18th Century cottages and farmhouses which predominate in Waterfall village. It is, however, built from locally quarried natural and dressed stone and plain clay tiles.

Above the site to the rear, are the dairy parlour, feed store and stock buildings of Green Farm. PROPOSAL

The submitted plans seek to rearrange the internal accommodation to provide a farm office and incorporate the integral garage with a modest extension on the eastern elevation to create a farmhouse kitchen. A replacement detached garage is proposed in line with the dwelling frontage to the east.

PLANNING HISTORY

The bungalow received planning permission in May 1974 (Ref: NP/SM/524/5) on land belonging to Green Farm. In addition to the standard material conditions, there was a condition which 'limited the occupation to a person solely or mainly employed, or last employed in the locality in agriculture........or a widow or widower of such a person'.

The first occupant and owner was the mother/mother-in-law of the applicants and she met the agricultural occupancy condition. Following her death the property was tenanted temporarily by a family that did not meet the conditions and enforcement officers made some preliminary enquiries. The unauthorised use ceased and the bungalow is now empty. No previous extensions have been built.

PLANNING POLICIES

- Occupancy – the local plan is clear that it is expected that a dwelling that has been permitted specifically for agriculture will ideally meet the needs of the farm business in perpetuity and when the occupancy condition is no longer required the National Park Authority will wish to substitute it with a local occupancy condition.

- Policy LH4 Extensions and Alterations to dwelling. This states that extensions and alterations will be permitted subject to three considerations. They:

  i) do not detract from the character, openness or amenity of the original building, its setting or neighbouring buildings.

  ii) do not dominate the original dwelling where it is of architectural, historic or vernacular merit.

  iii) do not amount to the creation of a separate dwelling.

- Conservation Area. The property and its curtilage are excluded from the Waterfall conservation area, although its neighbours, Ivy House and the Village Hall and School House are included.

ASSESSMENT

Mr & Mrs Hall, together with their son, farm neighbouring Green Farm from which the site of Greenacres was derived and with which it will be reunited.

They also farm nearby Felthouse Farm.

The business encompasses 300 acres with a dairy herd of 115, plus beef and followers, giving a livestock total of 300. Contractors are used for silageing and spreading slurry. The background to the application is that the applicants wish to retire from active farming, but not from the farm business, which they will continue to manage.

Mr Hall has mobility problems and underlying medical problems, evidenced by the attached letter from his doctor. This makes a single level property necessary and the adaptations are linked directly to farm management needs. The office is required for business purposes and herd management records and the enlarged farmhouse kitchen will be the traditional focus for day to day management, without the need to impact on the main reception rooms.

Both Mr & Mrs Hall have lived in Waterfall and adjacent parishes in the National Park all their lives and meet both the local occupancy criteria and the test of being mainly or last employed in the locality in agriculture.

DESIGN

The submitted plans are the outcome of extensive consultation with Ms S Foster and were preceded by two draft schemes. Key changes have been the deletion of a family room, the reduction of bulk by detaching the garage and a reconfiguration of windows on the front elevation to create uniformity.

The setting and design of the existing bungalow is set out above in the Site Description. The property is clearly unique in the village and street scene and to attempt to copy the traditional architecture of Waterfall in the extension would appear incongruous.

The design considerations have therefore been taken from the existing building, ensuring that the extension is subsidiary to the original and by detaching the garage, reducing the bulk and scale of the proposals.

The orientation of the extension is southwards, in keeping with the principal elevation of Greenacres and the proposed windows on this front elevation echo the existing ones. The rear elevation has no public perspective.

It is proposed that the materials used i.e. natural gritstone and blue/black clay tiles will match the existing and doors and windows will be of treated timber. The stone particularly will be locally sourced.

In respect of enviromental management, the scheme will meet all appropriate building regulations in terms of energy consumption, insulation and daylighting.

The south facing main elevation will maximise the use of natural daylight and the rising ground to the rear will shelter the dwelling from the north and east.

Impact on neighbours, particularly Ivy House to the east is reduced because of the generous size of both curtilages, and although Greenacres is slightly elevated, no principal windows are proposed on the eastern elevation and the proposed garage will act as a screen between the bungalow and its neighbour.

We conclude that the proposals comply with Policy LH4 and its specific considerations.

ACCESS Because of Mr Hall’s mobility difficulty, particular attention has been given to space and ease of access in the reconfiguration of the rooms. All of this will comply with Part M of the Building Regulations, but the biggest gain is that this single storey accommodation and the gentle gradients of the site are ideally suited for the less able. The location is also well located in relation to medical and pharmacy services in nearby Waterhouses.

CONCLUSION

We believe that these proposals demonstrate a functional need linked to the farm business and also respond appropriately to the personal circumstances of the applicants. The design responds to its context and uses sympathetic materials and the extensions are subsidiary to the existing property.

We ask the National Park Authority to approve the application.

Michael Sutcliffe & Associates 8 June 2010